Configuration of SPOServiceTest

This test reports the status of the SharePoint Online service in real-time, thus proactively alerting administrators to a service degradation. The test additionally reveals if any service incidents are occurring, and elaborately describes such incidents vide detailed diagnostics. If SharePoint Online has been stopped as part of a planned maintenance activity, then this test indicates the same by reporting the count of maintenance events associated with SharePoint Online.

The default parameters associated with this test are as follows:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, specify the host for which the test is to be configured. By default, this is portal.office.com.

• For execution, this test requires the privileges of an O365 user who has been assigned the Service support admin and SharePoint admin roles and is vested with the View-Only Audit Logs permissions. Configure the credentials of such a user against O365 USER NAME and O365 PASSWORD text boxes. Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

  While you can use the credentials of any existing O365 user with the afore-said privileges, it is recommended that you create a special user for monitoring purposes using the Office 365 portal and use the credentials of that user here. To know how to create a new user using the Office 365 portal and assign the required privileges to that user, refer to the Creating a New User in the Office 365 Portal available under Pre-requisites for Monitoring Microsoft SharePoint Online section of the Monitoring SharePoint Online document.

• To have a personalized business email address, team site address, or even an account name, you set up a domain name with Office 365. A domain is a unique name that appears after the @ sign in email addresses, and after www. in web addresses. It typically takes the form of your organization's name and a standard Internet suffix, such as yourbusiness.com or stateuniversity.edu. Office 365 gives you an initial domain name to use. By default, this will be of the format: *.onmicrosoft.com - eg., abc.onmicrosoft.com. To enable this test to pull metrics, you need to configure the test with the name of this initial domain. Therefore, configure the O365 DOMAIN parameter with the name of the initial domain. To know what is your Office 365 initial domain name, do the following:

  • Log on to the Microsoft Office 365 Online Portal using an administrative account.

  • Under Management, click on Domains.

  • The initial domain should be listed with a name ending with .onmicrosoft.com.

• The DOMAIN, DOMAIN USER, DOMAIN PASSWORD and CONFIRM PASSWORD parameters are applicable only if the eG agent needs to communicate with the Office 365 portal via a Proxy server.

  In this case, in the DOMAIN text box, specify the name of the Windows domain to which the eG agent host belongs. In the DOMAIN USER NAME text box, mention the name of a valid domain user with login rights to the eG agent host. Provide the password of that user in the DOMAIN PASSWORD text box and confirm that password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

  On the other hand, if the eG agent is not behind a Proxy server, then you need not disturb the default setting of these parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none.

• The PROXY HOST, PROXY PORT, PROXY USER NAME, PROXY PASSWORD and CONFIRM PASSWORD parameters are applicable only if the eG agent needs to communicate with the Office 365 portal via a Proxy server.

  In this case, provide the IP/host name and port number of the Proxy server that the eG agent should use in the PROXY HOST and PROXY PORT parameters, respectively.

  If the Proxy server requires authentication, then specify the credentials of a valid Proxy user against the PROXY USER NAME and PROXY PASSWORD text boxes. Confirm that password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box. If the Proxy server does not require authentication, then specify none against the PROXY USER NAME, PROXY PASSWORD, and CONFIRM PASSWORD text boxes.

  On the other hand, if the eG agent is not behind a Proxy server, then you need not disturb the default setting of any of the Proxy-related parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none.

• The DD FREQUENCY refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 2:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.

• To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, eG embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test, by default, for a particular server, choose the On option against DETAILED DIAGNOSIS. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

  The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability.

  • Both the bad and normal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.